Cypress, Like The Tree, is a murder mystery with several interesting suspects. Does a
wife kill her abusive husband? Have the neighbors who've witnessed the abuse
turned vigilante? Or has a philanderer just pissed off the wrong person?

Today you'll meet Detective
Cypress, the man in charge of solving this crime, but first:

Excerpt:

A detective entered the room. I knew he was a detective
before he even opened his mouth because his superior than thou aura wafted off him like cheap aftershave. Tall, thin,
and rumpled, he reminded me of an anorexic Clark Kent. Was this Superman in
disguise?

“Mrs. Allan,” he offered his hand. “I’m Detective Cypress,
like the tree.”]

***

Detective Cypress likes comparing himself to the tree. He
thinks it gives suspects and strangers a sense of comfort, strength, and fear.

He sees himself as the guardian of justice, and the seeker of
truth, comparing that to the fact that the
Cypress Tree has long been an emblem of immortality, strength, and guardianship.

Maybe equating the fact that from ancient times
the cypress tree has been planted by graves and in cemeteries, representing, in
the upward pointing of every shoot and leaf, and the fragrant, enduring wood, a
knowledge of immortal life with God in heaven. Hence the guardian of the dead, and for the detective his responsibilities to
the murdered.

Detective Cypress is a young detective still learning the
ropes, and he has a long way to go when
it comes to getting confessions and outwitting the most crafty of killers.

Will Detective Cypress solve the murder that took place on
Red Clay Road?